


sometimes i think about going back

by hawksonfire



Series: oh, the good ol' days [3]
Category: Marvel
Genre: Avengers Team Movie Night, Boys Kissing, Domestic Avengers, Emotional Conversations, M/M, Marvel Bingo 2019, Pre-Relationship, past Steve/Bucky - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-06
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2021-01-23 22:00:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21327343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hawksonfire/pseuds/hawksonfire
Summary: “No talking,” Clint says, holding back a laugh. “Got it.” He settles into the couch, draping his arms across the back. Tilting his head at Steve, he jerks his chin at the popcorn bowl and opens his mouth.Steve blinks at him. Clint motions again and understanding dawns in Steve’s eyes. He takes a piece of popcorn and tosses it gently. It arcs through the air silently, practically a perfect throw - and then it hits Clint in the eye. Glaring, he retaliates, throwing a piece of popcorn directly at the tip of Steve’s nose.
Relationships: Clint Barton/Steve Rogers
Series: oh, the good ol' days [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1533320
Comments: 34
Kudos: 238
Collections: Marvel Bingo 2019





	sometimes i think about going back

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Marvel Bingo Square O5: Domestic Avengers.
> 
> oooOOOOOOOOOO there may _finally_ be some smoochies in this one, folks!! Also, you may have noticed that my name changed! That's right! I finally did that thing I said I was going to do a week ago! Go me! Anyway, my new name is... _drum roll please!!!!!!_
> 
> **hawksonfire**!!!!!
> 
> I really like it, and I hope you do too! Without further ado, our boys.

**Clint**

“Whose turn is it to pick tonight?” Clint can already hear the sound of arguing coming from the common room. He rolls his eyes. 

“Technically, it’s Tony’s,” Steve answers, “But no one ever wants to watch the movies he picks, which means Bruce will try to veto it with a choice of his own. There’s a fifty-fifty chance that we’ll like the movie he picks, but if we don’t it falls to Nat to choose.”

“And since she always picks movies from some obscure genre spoken in a language that no one but her understands, that means Thor gets to choose,” Clint continues.

“Thor’s going to say that he doesn’t care what we watch as long as we watch together,” Steve snorts. Clint bumps his shoulder. “Guess it’s up to you.”

“With the way everyone talks during the movie and only a few things are subtitled well enough for me to actually be able to understand what’s happening, I can’t bring myself to care,” Clint sighs. “That means it falls to you, oh Captain my Captain.”

Steve shakes his head. “I’ve heard The Princess Bride is good,” he offers hesitantly, like he thinks Clint’s going to shut him down.

“Not only is it _ good_,” Clint says, slinging his arm around Steve’s shoulder, “It is one of the best movies ever made. It’s got everything - action, romance, vengeance... And it’s my favourite.”

“That settles it then,” Steve says, grinning, “We’re watching the Princess Bride.” They arrive at the common room to find things playing out exactly as they said they would and they exchange a smirk before heading to the kitchen to make popcorn. Clint pops a bag into the microwave for Tasha and Tony to share and grabs a second one out of the drawer to make for Thor, then tosses the seeds and butter to Steve so he can make it the old fashioned way.

“There’s nothing old fashioned about doing it this way,” Steve insists. “It’s how my Ma used to make it, on the rare occasions we could afford it.”

“Steve, babe, I know,” Clint says, poking him in the ribs, “I’m just teasing. I like it better this way too.” Did he really just call Steve fucking Rogers _ babe_? Aw, brain, no. He keeps an easy smile on his face, only looking over at Steve when he’s sure the other man won’t be returning his gaze - and he finds a faint blush on Steve’s cheeks. Certainly nothing like the full-body blush he got when Thor was explaining Asgardian post-battle rituals to him that one time - orgies. So many orgies. - but they’ll work up to that. 

“You mind giving this to Bruce?” Steve asks after a few minutes, shoving a bowl of freshly popped kernels into Clint’s hands. 

“Sure, Steve,” Clint says. “You mind making me a bowl?” While he’s waiting for a response, he dumps the microwaved popcorn into another bowl.

“Alright,” Steve says, still not looking at him. 

Clint brushes past him, stopping just close enough that Steve can probably feel his body heat, and says, “You know how I like it.” Steve squeaks and the blush spreads down the back of his neck. Clint watches it for a moment, long enough to make it clear he hasn’t left, and then walks away. He walks into the living room and hands Bruce his popcorn. “We’re watching the Princess Bride,” he says, interrupting Tony and Tasha’s argument.

“I’m surprisingly okay with that,” Tony says. Tasha just rolls her eyes and tucks her toes further underneath his thighs, making grabby hands at the second bowl in Clint’s hands. “Anyone ever notice it’s always either Legolas or Capsicle that pick the movie?”

“That’s because the rest of you are a bunch of squabbling children,” Steve says, walking in carrying a bowl. “There wasn’t enough for a second bowl, you mind sharing?” He says to Clint. 

“Looks like we’re couch buddies,” Clint says, a smirk on his face as he lets himself spread out on the couch. There’s no place Steve can sit that doesn’t end with him touching Clint in some way, and predictably, Steve chooses the spot that has just their thighs brushing together. 

“Shall we begin the movie now?” Thor says excitedly. “Bruce has told me of this movie, he says it is exceptional.”

“I swear to Thor if any of you talk I will Hulk out and throw your beds out the windows,” Bruce says mildly. Everyone except Thor stares at him in horror. “What?” Bruce says sheepishly. “I like this movie.”

“No talking,” Clint says, holding back a laugh. “Got it.” He settles into the couch, draping his arms across the back. Tilting his head at Steve, he jerks his chin at the popcorn bowl and opens his mouth. 

Steve blinks at him. Clint motions again and understanding dawns in Steve’s eyes. He takes a piece of popcorn and tosses it gently. It arcs through the air silently, practically a perfect throw - and then it hits Clint in the eye. Glaring, he retaliates, throwing a piece of popcorn directly at the tip of Steve’s nose. 

Steve goes cross-eyed trying to follow its trajectory and Clint has to clap a hand over his mouth to stop his bark of laughter from disturbing the movie. Grinning sheepishly, Steve places the bowl on top of their pressed together thighs, tilting his head towards the tv screen with an apologetic look. Clint winks at him then stuffs his face with a handful of popcorn.

Steve snorts. Clint finds himself looking over at Steve as the movie progresses, eventually giving up on watching it all together and just staring at Steve. The little expressions he makes, the ones he doesn’t even seem to be conscious of - those are adorable, and Clint only realizes that he’s cataloguing them when Inigo finally gets his revenge against the man who killed his father and a look that Clint immediately identifies as longing passes across Steve’s face.

Quietly, Steve gets up and leaves, drawing a look from Natasha. Clint shakes his head at her and gets up himself, following Steve out of the living room. “You okay?” He asks gently, holding his hands up in apology when Steve whirls around defensively. 

“Fine, just... ran out of popcorn is all,” Steve says with a weak smile. 

“Yeah, I’m calling bullshit,” Clint says. “Talk to me, Steve. I’m here to listen.” Steve shakes his head, the knuckles on his left hand white. “Okay,” Clint says quietly. He’s not going to force Steve to talk. “I’m not going to force you to talk. You want me to leave, I’ll leave.” He turns to go, but is stopped when Steve grabs his wrist. Silently, he tugs Clint out of the kitchen and down the hallway to the elevator. Not a word is spoken between them until they get to the roof, and even then it takes a few moments for Steve to gather his thoughts. 

“It was a good movie,” is the first thing he says. “I didn’t leave because I didn’t like it.”

“Okay,” Clint says, sitting down and leaning against the rough brick wall. “Then why did you leave?”

“When Inigo did it, when he got his justice - vengeance, whatever you wanna call it - when he got that, it made me realize I never got mine.” Steve’s not looking at him and he’s all curled in on himself, making himself as small as possible.

“For Barnes, you mean,” Clint says softly. 

“Bucky was...” Steve sighs. “He was my whole world, for a while. And then the war happened, and then the train happened. And then I woke up seventy years in the future and hardly anyone remembered him. The only recognition he got was a stupid star on some wall filled with other dead names and a thirty-second recording in a museum. It’s not fair.”

“No, it isn’t,” Clint agrees. 

“And then three years after I come out of the ice - y’know it’s only been four years since I lost him?” He keeps talking before Clint can respond. “I know you know that, you told me back in the cave. But it’s only been four years since I saw him fall to his death. I had _ just _ finished mourning him the first time, was finally ready to move on, maybe get a life of my own.”

“And then the Winter Soldier shot up your apartment,” Clint says with a sigh. 

“And then the Winter Soldier shot up my apartment,” Steve confirms. He slumps down next to Clint, tilting his head back to stare at the sky. “I thought it was just another mission - a big one, what with SHIELD being compromised, but another mission nonetheless. But when his mask fell off in that street... My whole world changed, and it was like I was mourning him all over again. Like I had never stopped in the first place.”

“Must suck,” Clint comments. 

Steve snorts. “Yeah,” he says, running a hand over his face, “Yeah, it really fucking does.” The two of them sit in silence for a while, legs pressed together, until Steve starts talking again. “So that’s why I left. Movie hit some chords, I guess.”

“Steve, if that movie doesn’t hit chords for you, then you’re watching it wrong.” Clint bumps Steve’s shoulder with his, grinning at him. “I always get choked up at the bit where Buttercup comes across Wesley paralyzed in the bedroom, myself. Something about the way her voice sounds when she asks why he isn’t kissing her back...” He shrugs self-consciously. “I dunno, it always gets to me.”

“Glad to know we’re watching the movie right,” Steve says, leaning into Clint. Clint hums in agreement, tilting his head back to stare at the stars with Steve. “Clint?”

“Mmm?” 

“Don’t punch me for this, okay?” Clint turns his head to look at Steve, opening his mouth to ask what on earth he would punch him for - and Steve kisses him. Clint freezes, mouth slightly open under Steve’s, and it’s only when Steve starts to pull back and Clint can practically see the apology on his lips does he fist his hand in the collar of Steve’s shirt and yank him back in, their mouths colliding with bruising force. 

“Don’t you dare apologize for that,” he pants when Steve pulls away. His eyes are bright in the darkness, mesmerizing Clint, and he’s helpless to stop himself from leaning in to kiss Steve again. “Princess Bride,” he breathes the next time they pull apart, “Best. Movie. _ Ever. _”

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on the [ tumbles](%E2%80%9Chawksonfire.tumblr.com%E2%80%9D)
> 
> follow me on the tweets


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